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Monday, April 11, 2011

Season done.... Moto time

An exhausted, and relived wave and acknowledgement to the crowd as I round out my season with my 5th straight podium at XTERRA NZ

It is a very broken, but very satisified me that can now officially sign off my season on a positive note, after a hard fought 3rd place at XTERRA NZ on Saturday. I was out classed by Richard Ussher and Scott Thorne, but I gave everything I had on the day, and am more than happy with that.

In reality I bluffed my way through. I was way underdone in training, and was forcing myself through it. 5 weeks ago I'd had enough, and it was only the enjoyment I get from the XTERRA concept that got me back training hard for one last season goal. It was really quite fitting as things kicked off way back in October... when in a similar scenario I bluffed my way to a win in the Whaka 100. If anything this last 6 months has taught me the importance of

a) base training. Without it quality training and recovery becomes near impossible. b) This is a hobby... its not job and no one pays me to do it... so I had best make sure I pick fun events and targets and don't "force" it

On Saturday it my mental game I was most proud of. My swim was average, and while well down on the leader it was the 1min30 I gave up to Rich and Scott that was most damaging. Anything more than 30sec and you just don't see someone on this course. Without that visual target the chase becomes very hard. The two of them were battling each other while I was battling myself. I held them at a couple of mins by 2/3 of the bike before they edged out late in the ride.

Onto the run I was over 3min down. They were visably flying and I knew the catch was impossible. That is a tough thing to deal with as I focussed on holding 3rd. That is a difficult mindset, and I bumbled through the first 3-4km I felt awful and was running heavy. Aussie Ben Allen wiped out 1min30 of my near 2min gap in the first lap and it seemed all over. But somehow I dug deep enough to pick up the pace, run a 22min lap (maybe quicker... the first was 23 something) and hold him off.

Somewhere in the last week I found my Mojo again. Somewhere between ice-cream, a few beers, the moto, or just talking crap with mates. Maui's World Champs in October now seems exciting and top 10 result a real possibility on a proper committed buildup (Just need to find a few thousand dollars from somewhere first).

But for the next few weeks its couch time, and Moto time. Looking forward to it

Relative calm, before the Chaos of the swim

Halfway through the run, and trying hard to maintain my gap over Aussie Ben Allen

Of all the places, this is where I found my Mojo... lunchtime Friday, and a net session withe the kids at Broadlands School.

LAst week and the Meridian Kids Jam. Cool to see such entusiasm. Also stoked to see a big group of the Rotorua Junior Development group riders (12/13/14yr olds) turn up and volunteer. How come the rest of our Elite athletes aren't that professional?